1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrical circuits, such as flexible printed circuits (i.e., "flex circuits"), and more particularly to a method and article for the connection and repair of electrical/flex circuits.
2. Disclosure Information
In the prior art, it is well known to use flex circuitry (instead of conventional round-wire wiring harnesses) to electrically connect together various electrical/electronic components, such as modules, motors, instrumentation, and the like. Most conventional wire harnesses are provided with male or female ganged connectors at either end, which mechanically and electrically connect to corresponding female or male connectors on the electrical/electronic components. One advantage of using flex circuitry over conventional wire harnesses is that often the male/female connectors may be reconfigured, reduced, or eliminated altogether (such as by soldering the ends of the flex directly to the electrical/electronic components). This is advantageous because typically connectors are expensive, require high assembly labor costs, and are the most failure-prone element both during manufacturing and after sale or installation. Also, flex circuits often provide certain packaging, weight, and design efficiencies that make it more advantageous than wiring harnesses.
However, despite these advantages, the use of flex circuitry may sometimes suffer from certain disadvantages. For example, when one of the electrical/electronic components fails, it may be difficult to disconnect the component from the flex to which it is attached, and/or to disconnect the component-connected piece of flex from the rest of the circuit. In fact, poor repairability is one of the overall drawbacks of using flex. It would be desirable, therefore, to provide a way of facilitating repair of flex circuits.